DEFIANCE, Ohio -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology survived a competitive match on Saturday against the Yellow Jackets of Defiance College winning the match in five sets 21-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-12. This win secures a first round bye for the Engineers in the HCAC tournament.
Bailey MacInnis was able to lead the team offensively with 16 kills in the match. Marissa Gollnick had an outstanding performance helping the Engineers on offense and defense with 12 kills and 14 digs.
Katryna Dahlberg recorded a team-high 37 digs with Katie Orbeta (21), Adekite Oladipupo (19), and Gabrielle Gilbertson (12) also reaching double digits. Gilbertson led the team with four service aces while Gollnick was able to record three aces as well.
Rose-Hulman improves to 17-11 and 7-2 in conference play, while Defiance drops to 4-19 and 2-7 in the HCAC. This win puts the Engineers in the second seed for the HCAC tournament. They will receive a bye in the first round and compete next weekend on Saturday, 11/3 at 5:00 PM at Transylvania University.
The Engineers faced Kenyon in their second match of the double header. Rose-Hulman struggled early to catch a rhythm and ended up falling to Kenyon in straight sets 25-22, 25-16, 25-23.
Gollnick and Grace Beach each recorded eight kills to lead the offense for the Engineers. Dahlberg finished the match with a team high 18 digs with Gollnick right behind her with 14.
This loss drops the Engineers to 16-12 overall and 6-2 in the HCAC as they wrap up their regular season competition. Rose-Hulman enters the HCAC tournament ranked second in the conference as a team with a .184 kill percentage and 178 total blocks. The team also ranks third with 17.73 digs-per-set.
